History was written in Italy today (Sunday 8 November) as Dean Hoogendoorn and Antoine Sylva Venant became motor sport’s newest World Champions, taking their place among the sport’s most celebrated names. In the 70th anniversary year of karting, they join a distinguished list of FIA Karting World Champions that includes François Goldstein, Mike Wilson, Davide Forè, Jarno Trulli, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Having trained and prepared for this race all year, both world champions handled the immense pressure and weight of expectation with great composure, delivering final drives of maturity and skill far beyond their years. With the Mondokart.com World Championship secured, they have both cemented their status as two of motor sport’s most exciting and talked-about prospects destined for incredible success over the coming years.
In Original Kart (OK), Dean Hoogendoorn powered to victory this afternoon fending off tough opposition from Henry Domain who kept the championship alive until the last few laps of the final. Hoogendoorn led the final from start to finish, maintaining composure despite the fierce battles unfolding behind. Securing his first FIA win of the year and the first ever World Championship team victory for Parolin, the Dutch driver could hardly contain his emotion as he crossed the line in what will be his last major karting race of his promising career before he races in FIA-certified Formula 4 next year.
In Junior, Antoine Sylva Venant delivered a masterful performance, recovering from a poor start off the line to make up positions, clinically take the lead and steadily build a gap to Daniel Miron Lorente behind to comfortably secure the Junior World Champion title. The Belgian VDK driver was embraced by his team following his win, including his father, who has been at his side as his engineer, making the victory especially meaningful for the family.
Hoogendoorn and Venant will formally receive their World Champion trophies next month at the FIA Awards in Shanghai. They will be joined by the champions of the FIA’s five other World Championships, including 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Antonelli, at the star-studded ceremony honouring the achievements of the world’s greatest motor sport stars from this year.
OK
Super Heats
After inheriting prime position in the OK category from Schaufler yesterday, Bruno Blanco was first on track with a golden opportunity to convert his Super Heat advantage into pole for the 2026 World Championship final.
In the opening corners Aston Sharp led the super heat from Blanco which he defended to the line to take the first super heat win and enough points to bring him onto the second row of the grid alongside Blanco who ended the super heat just under two seconds behind Sharp. Pesl had the biggest gain of the super heat with an expert drive in the damp conditions to finish in third, a mighty gain of 18 positions when he needed it most after ending the day in 61st position yesterday.
A choice of tyres had the biggest impact on the rest of the field with Cuman’s choice to go with wet tyres a disastrous one for the Parolin driver who had enjoyed a positive day of heats yesterday. He fell to the back of the order and ultimately retired in a major knock to his chances this weekend.
Hoogendoorn lined up next to Schaufler during the second super heat with Drummond lurking in the row behind. Hoogendoorn converted super heat pole to win with relative ease, with the main action of the second heat coming from the battle for second place between Henry Domain and Benjamin Manach, ultimately won by Domain.
Hoogendoorn’s win made full advantage of Blanco’s loss of position in the previous super heat and confirmed the 2025 Junior European Champion’s pole position for the World Championship final. Schaufler’s poor start prevented him from finishing any higher than eighth in a further dent to his otherwise perfect start to the weekend. The polesitter from Friday’s time qualifying ended Sunday morning with an eighth-place position for the final race.
In the last of the OK super heats, Gilles Herman started with a front-row start for the final up for grabs. Whilst Ilie Tristan Crisan’s overtake may have temporarily relegated Herman to the second row in the provisional standings, Herman’s retake of the position guaranteed him a spot alongside Hoogendoorn when the lights went out for the World Championship final.
Notably, 2026 KZ World Champion Viktor Gustafsson and 2026 OK-N World Cup winner were unable to qualify for the final having both finished outside of the top 28 drivers after the super heat phase despite their recent karting victories.
Final
As the lights went out for the World Championship final, Hoogendoorn led into the first corner with Blanco up into second at the expense of Herman who quickly dropped into eighth and then out of the top ten. Schaufler also got off to a lightning start behind, gaining five places into fourth by the second lap and into second position by the third lap as the Austrian refused to let his hopes of becoming World Champion fade.
Hoogendoorn’s positive start continued as he initially built a comfortable gap in the lead with a challenge for the podium positions starting to unfold behind involving Schaufler, Manach and Domain who continued to exchange places. Domain got the better of Schaufler but in the scrap Schaufler briefly went off track and slotted back into fifth position with Crisan then occupying the final podium position.
As the initial burst of race energy quietened and the race approached its midpoint, Domain started to gradually eat into Hoogendoorn’s lead with sector times that brought Hoogendoorn’s control of the lead into question. As the gap dropped to within a second, Domain sensed the opportunity to make a move for the trophy and title.
Domain and Hoogendoorn engaged in a dance of lap times, each responding to the other as a move became increasingly likely, but Domain waited to show his hand until the fading laps of the final, leaving the blockbuster entertainment until the very end of the championship.
With the lead of the race up for grabs ahead, Lev Krutoholov led a train including Bosco Arias and Niklas Schaufler and William Calleja all yearning for a spot on the podium this afternoon, but Crisan who was sitting in third was defending with all his might. Crisan reacted and started to build a cushion between him and the chasing pack at which point Vandekerckhove joined the search for a trophy.
However, as the last lap board went out, Dean Hoogendoorn could sense the history which awaited him as he cruised around the 16 corners of the World Circuit La Conca to etch his name in the history books and receive motor sport’s greatest honour, to be named an FIA World Champion. As he crossed the line the roar of the Italian crowd and his Parolin team was audible across the paddock as the team claimed a historic first world championship victory.
Behind him, Domain fell just short of the crown, crossing the line six tenths behind Hoogendoorn despite his mighty efforts to prevent the Dutch driver from breaking away. In the closing laps, Crisan also successfully kept Arias at bay to complete the 2026 World Championship podium.
Elsewhere in the final Calleja retired with an engine issue and other frontrunners Sharp and Manach also couldn’t reach the chequered flag. Drummond and Turney could only manage seventh and eighth place respectively with polesitter Schaufler just behind them in ninth.
Dean Hoogendoorn, 2026 FIA Karting OK World Champion, said:
“It was so hard staying calm, it was my first time really leading a world championship final and I’m so so happy and so thankful to everyone that has supported me. I’m so happy that we’ve taken the win. It’s my last race [in karting] I was thinking before the weekend if I don’t finish good this weekend it’s going to be a big big heartbreak but I’m so happy I’m standing at the top today.”
Top 3 in the 2026 Mondokart.com FIA Karting OK World Championship:
1. Dean Hoogendoorn (NED, Parolin)
2. Henry Domain (GBR, MP Motorsport)
3. Ilie Tristan Crisan (CAN, Tony Kart)
Junior
Super Heats
After Perico claimed the lead of the Junior standings yesterday this morning he lined up alongside Gioele Girardello on the front row for the first of three junior super heats. Girardello made the jump on Perico early on, taking advantage of the damp track conditions the drivers were yet to face this weekend.
However, as the confidence of the junior drivers grew, Perico retook control of the race and the standings which he held until the chequered flag with a healthy gap of almost four seconds. In taking the super heat win Perico became certain of pole position for the World Championship final with a few hours to prepare for the most important race of his young career.
Will Green’s crucial overtake on Girardello to claim a second-place super heat finish significantly lifted him in the standings and handed him a 5th place on the grid for the final whilst MacAndrew-Uren gained two positions to cross the line in third and was therefore promoted to a fifth row start for the final race.
With the remaining front row position for the final available, the second super heat started in chaos as nine drivers retired in the opening corners allowing Miron to claim the lead with Zhu losing out and ending the heat in 12th position. Miron’s win secured him a third place for the final whilst a black flag for Molota during the heat ended his world championship hopes.
The final junior super heat distributed the remaining qualifying points and Antoine Sylva Venant’s cruise from lights to flag secured him the remaining front row position alongside Perico in the final. Behind Venant, Mason Robertson’s second place finish to hold Leonardo Gorski at bay was enough to put him on the second row of the grid.
Unable to make it through to the 28-strong field of drivers in the final were Dilan Fricker who spun during the formation lap of his super heat, Oskari Walle and second place finisher in the 2026 OK-N Junior World Cup Luigi D’Ascoli.
Final
Lining up on the grid with the prospect of a World title ahead of him, Perico opted to switch sides and take the outside line heading into turn one and he got off to a lightning start to quickly pull away from Venant who initially fell back into fifth position. In the first lap drama, Girardello made his way up into second position and began to hunt down Perico for just a few corners until Miron Lorente bounced back and assumed his position as the main challenger to Perico.
Further behind them a mid-pack train of karts formed including Frasnelli, Legenkyi and Rovelli who had all surged places in the opening few laps whilst Will Green’s poor start pushed him almost out of the top 20 as his chances of converting a 2026 European title into a World title waned.
Perico’s comfort in the lead was short lived however as Miron quickly began to close the gap and made his move on Perico on the sixth lap to assume the World Champion winning position. In the move on Perico, Venant managed to join Miron’s slipstream and into second place as Perico needed to muster everything he could to keep his dream alive of winning the title.
The three frontrunners engaged in an extraordinary track battle by the midpoint of the race with all three of them occupying first position over the course of a lap. As a group of Manzano, Girardello and Legenkyi approached the leading drivers, Perico dropped out of the top five whilst Venant slipped into the lead and started to break away with the trophy appearing within grasp.
Miron, who was now sitting in second place, then faced Legenkyi behind him who had gained a remarkable 16 positions to enter the podium positions but successfully defended his position. Girardello, meanwhile, found a burst of pace when he needed it most as the race entered its final laps. His impressive and clinical move on Manzano was worthy of a World Championship final and he quickly eyed a challenge on Legenkyi for a podium finish.
An epic battle unfolded as the chequered flag neared with Girardello lunging for the third place but the gamble didn’t pay off for the young Parolin driver who ended up falling back and went off the track, eventually unable to recover above sixth place. In the end of race drama, Manzano managed to navigate a pathway into the podium spots which he held on to with a resurgent Julian Frasnelli behind to finish in fourth.
However, at the front of the race it was Venant who could taste victory as he rounded the last few corners of the circuit. Miron stayed to within two seconds of the VDK driver but once he recovered from his initial setback Venant appeared untouchable during the final. He crossed the line to secure the junior title and enter the karting history books, joining an elite club of drivers destined for enormous success.
Babicek’s race ended early due to a technical flag, Perico could only recover to fifth, Will Green crossed the line in 11th and Zack Zhu ended the World Championship in 13th position.
Antoine Sylva Venant, 2026 FIA Karting Junior World Champion, said:
“I’m very happy because we progressed a lot in the year. I tried to stay focused on the race. I was so happy and I won it for my grandparents, a big thanks. I’m super happy that my father is also one of my bosses and when I work with him I don’t say dad, I say Raffaelle!”
Top 3 in the 2026 Mondokart.com FIA Karting Junior World Championship:
1. Antoine Sylva Venant (BEL, VDK)
2. Daniel Miron Lorente (ESP, MP)
3. Miguel Manzano (MEX, Ricky Flynn)
FIA Karting next travels to Malaysia for the final race of the season, the 2026 FIA Karting Arrive and Drive World Cup. All of the racing action is available to watch LIVE and FREE on the FIA Karting YouTube channel.
Comments
